Left. Eastern lava falls at new
Highcastle entry. This falls is just west of the eastern road kipuka. 0530. Right.
Looking west again, telephoto of part of middle falls, now being joined by
another entry in lower right (better shown in next image). 0546.

Left. Dim predawn light shows profile
of sea cliff and another lava falls just joining the group at right side of
image. 0548. Right. Looking east again at the eastern cluster of
lava falls and sea cliff beyond. 0549:30.

Left. Now another falls has appeared,
just west of the former westernmost falls. It shows as streaky drips just
left of main western falls. Middle falls is most prominent. 0556:45. Right.
Dawn rainbow, sun catching wave, and lava falls on a glorious Friday
morning. 0613.

Highcastle kipuka from air. Highcastle lobe is, broadly
speaking, the part of the shiny flow headed toward the kipuka. Note how the
flow crossed an intervening high area and then spread laterally, mostly west, as it neared
the sea. Large view shows three remnants of road; the western two are being
covered. Western and eastern groups of entries are separated by 1995 lava
flow. Most steam comes from western group. Paliuli is dark cliff near top of
image.

10 August 2002

Left. Early morning photographer
silhouetted by glow from western group of entries at Highcastle at 0527.
Yesterday morning's images were taken from that location. Note other
photographers on other side of glow. Right. Lava moves toward sea
cliff with dawning sky behind. Glow on left from lava falls at eastern
Highcastle entry. 0532

Lava just starting to plummet over sea cliff between western
and eastern groups of falls. Large view shows tiny detached drop of lava
with water backdrop; drop
comes from small falls faintly seen near right edge of cliff. 0613:40.

11 August 2002

Bench, estimated to extend 10 m from sea
cliff, is forming at western group of lava falls at Highcastle. These views
show changing predawn mood in only 2 minutes, depending on steam and lava. Left.
0533. Right. 0535.

Two views of lava spigots at front of bench. Left.
Lava is fed through tube to brink of bench and then falls to sand below.
0553. Right. Gush of lava has disrupted tube and spills directly
onto sand below. 0556.

12 August 2002

Left. Dual breakouts, just started, at
top of sea cliff. From breakout points, lava plummets directly to bottom of
sea cliff. Eastern bench section in background. 0547. Right. Former
vantage point for western group of lava falls, top center, awash with lava
at 0553. The site could barely be occupied at 0530, but it was too hot to
take any images.

14 August 2002

Left. Glow above breakout on east end
of Highcastle bench, with entry from leading edge of bench behind and lava
cascades down sea cliff to right. 0536 Right. At daybreak, east end
of bench at Highcastle becomes from evident. Breakout on bench is now
mainly crusted over. 0553.

Left. Looking east across lava falls
shown in images above. Visitors are well beyond limits imposed by national
park. 0601 Right. East end of Highcastle bench just after dawn, with
breakouts and water entries.

15 August 2002

Activity at Highcastle has diminished from
that of yesterday. Only one cascade is active, and that is off and on. Left.
Small cascade of lava tumbles onto east end of Highcastle bench. 0604. Right.
Top of Highcastle cascade. Camera crew in background for scale. 0634.

Looking east across lower Mother's Day flow (light gray),
showing Wilipe`a bench (nearest end of Chain of Craters Road), West
Highcastle entry area, and Highcastle entry area (at sharp bend in
coastline). Beyond Highcastle is flow field developed through early 2002.
Pulama pali is slope in upper left, and Paliuli shows as black scarp
crossing flow in upper left quadrant.

Looking up Highcastle lobe of Mother's Day flow. Entry area
is shown by bench; narrow feeding flow is flanked by vegetated kipuka.
Remnant of Chain of Craters Road lies just east of flow. In background is
Paliuli, with several lava fans built against it. Base of Pulama pali near
top of view.

17 August 2002

Breakouts about 560 m from base of Paliuli,
not fed by surface flows. Instead, they appear through cracks in crust of
inflating pahoehoe. Much of the Mother's Day flow within several hundred
meters of Paliuli is actively inflating as lava feeds into crusted flow
from tubes coming down pali. Left. Predawn view at 0535. Right.
Dawn view at 0552. Paliuli is nearest cliff, and Pulama pali is distant.
Fume rises from lava through skylights in tubes..

Map of flows from Pu`u `O`o: 21 July 2002

Map shows lava flows erupted during the 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o
and Kupaianaha (see
large map). Lava from the Mother's Day flow (red flow on west side of flow field)
reached the sea at West Highcastle early on July 19 and at Wilipe`a early on
July 21. Active flows in May-July (shown in red) originate from two
sourcesthe area of the rootless shields and an area just southwest
of Pu`u `O`o. The two flows from the rootless shields are the Boundary flow,
the longer flow along the edge of the national park, and the HALP flow, which
moved into Royal Gardens subdivision on May 21. From near the southwest base of Pu`u `O`o, the
Mother's Day flow passes along the west side of the flow field and into the
forest, where it started a large wildfire in May that continued into late July. By June 10,
the Mother's Day flow had reached the base
of Paliuli, the steep slope and cliff below Pulama pali and just above the
coastal flat. At the base of Paliuli, the Mother's Day flow abruptly spread
laterally in a series of small budding flows to cover an area nearly 2 km
wide, gradually moving seaward until the West Highcastle and Wilipe`a lobes
finally reached the ocean and started building benches.

Eruption-viewing opportunities change constantly, so refer to this page
often. Those readers planning a visit to Kilauea or Mauna Loa volcanoes
can get much useful information from Hawai`i
Volcanoes National Park; be sure to click on the IN-DEPTH button.

The URL of this page is
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/multimedia/archive/2002/Aug/9-17.html
Contact:
hvowebmaster@usgs.govUpdated: 22 August 2002 (DAS)